The ABC of Bias
“Brooks found not guilty of
hacking charges”
Headline in “The Herald-Sun”
Ok, it seems to go like this. Private media companies are allowed to be biased because they’re private. Fair enough. But the ABC shouldn’t be biased because it’s taxpayer funded. And we know it is biased, because it doesn’t agree with the private media companies. Who we accept are allowed to be biased!
So clearly, the most important thing in the hacking trial was that Rebekah Brooks was found not guilty. The fact that Andy Coulson was found guilty is not all that important. And the fact that the ABC chose to accentuate the negative rather than the positive just shows their bias. Any suggestion that the Murdoch paper tried to spin it to make themselves sound less culpable is just ludicrous. Besides it was in Britain…
The ABC show further bias in that they fail to mention that a large number of Muslims are in Iraq fighting with ISIS. One estimate put the number as high as 150, which is higher to the number of people who think that Tony Abbott hasn’t broken any election promises, but not quite as high as projected public school class sizes, once Christopher Pyne has way.
As Steve Price said on The Project, when telling us that he didn’t buy the argument that young Muslims may feel hated and vilified, “But it’s also they’ve got Australian passports, you don’t leave the country where you were born, if you’ve got an Australian passport and get on a plane and go and start shooting people in other countries. If you want to do that – stay there!” He’s right, of course, only Islamic people would get on a plane and go over to Iraq and start shooting people. No Australian – and clearly these people aren’t Australian, even if they were born here – would ever do anything like that.
There’s no reason for anyone of the Islamic faith to feel disenfranchised. Unless they’re an extremist like the guest on The Project who suggested that we needed to make some effort to understand why young men would want to go and join ISIS. Price found it worrying a man like that was teaching at a university. Anyone who attempts to understand another’s motivation is a dangerous radical.
Similarly, we should worry about moderates like Waheed Aly who – according to Andrew Bolt – should concern us because he doesn’t tell us what a threat to our society Islam is. For a start, they want to build ugly buildings and they don’t support women’s rights and they want to impose strict morals on us all. Which would be fine if they were the Liberal Party, and the buildings they want to build weren’t mosques. And the fact that they don’t approve of drinking, well, its just un-Australian.
As Bolt pointed out, when Aly was talking about Boko Harum:
As so often when Muslim terrorists strike, Aly was brought on by Channel Ten’s The Project to explain away our fears as “an expert in terrorism”.
“So who is this group exactly?” he was asked.
Not once in his answer did “Muslim” or “Islamic” pass Aly’s lips.
“They are a really, really hard group to define because they are so splintered and so diverse,” he said.
“What we do know though is that the broader movement is a terrorist movement and they’ve been wanting to overthrow the Nigerian government and establish a government of their own.
“But beyond that, this particular group, who have done this particular thing, it’s hard to identify who they are and they might just be vigilantes.”
Yes, after all, when Tony Abbott’s mob were bombing London all those years ago, the press always referred to the “Christian IRA”. Similarly, all through World War Two, we had references to the Christian Nazis. Not to identify a group as Muslim is a clear example of double-standards.
Just remember, all Muslims are dangerous. Particularly the ones who try to trick us by being moderate and not advocating Sharia Law. By sounding less extreme than Cory Bernardi, they confuse people as to the inherent danger of tolerance and diversity.
To be absolutely clear: We should not be in any way positive about any muslim and there is absolutely no reason why any of them should feel as though we all hate them. We just want them to go back where they came from even if their family has been here longer than Andrew Bolt’s.
Yeah, I think that’s the unbiased view!
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Jason -
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Kaye Lee -
Vicki -
geoffreyengland -
Lawrence Winder -
Dan Rowden -
corvus boreus -
Garth -
Garth -
mark delmege -
mark delmege -
Vicki -
sdrawkcaB -
wam moir -
silkworm -
mark delmege -
Kaye Lee -
mark delmege -
paul walter -
mark delmege -
paul walter
Return to home pageMurdoch’s problems are probably just beginning now that Coulson has gone done.
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jun/24/scotland-yard-want-interview-rupert-murdoch-phone-hacking
An interesting, if not baffling, result with Brooks.
Pingback: The ABC of Bias! | rossleighbrisbane
Yes I had one of those potential terrorists approach me at the shops today to ask me where I had bought the cushions I was carrying. She was wearing a hijab so no doubt was up to no good. I was waiting for her kids to lob the ice creams they were eating at me.
I was reading an article in a magazine at the Alfred this morning whilst waiting for my husband to have his pre-admission tests. The article was about an orthopedic surgeon who fled Hussein’s Iraq and came to Australia as a ‘boat person’. He was already a practising doctor in Iraq and had very sound reasons for needing to escape. When he arrived in Australia he was kept in a detention centre for some time but on release he ultimately set about learning a new way of assisting amputees with a very different type of prosthetic – a steel rod inserted in the affected limb that allowed the natural flesh and nerves to regrow. A bit complicated and I can’t remember all of it and sadly I can’t remember his name. Perhaps someone out there will know of this wonderful Iraqui asylum seeker.
My point is how many other wonderful, clever and compasionate people have we not only turned away from our shores and whose lives we have in all probability destroyed. It’s enough to make one want to weep.
Muslims = Bad
Child molesting Christian priests = errr….not so bad.
Islam = Bad
Christian Inquisition = no so bad.
Steve Price is only slightly less a complete dickhead than Andrew Dolt
I thought the prosecution lawyer in the “Hacking’ case showed admirable restraint at the Brooks verdict. His quietly acerbic, “She was paid an awful lot to be incompetent…” said much.
And if the Poms send her down-under it can only be as payback for Abbott having Downer seek asylum in Britain.
Well, I suppose one of those options is something you never really expect …
Salute the obscure python reference, Dan.
Vicki… Your point is very well taken and I agree with all you said. I would just add that they shouldn’t have to justify themselves with redeeming characteristics (although from the tone of your comment I don’t think that’s what you were saying), it should be enough that someone needs our help and protection. As one of the most blessed countries on the planet, why do we want to deny this to our fellow people?! I honestly don’t understand (but I actually do when I consider it’s simply more bigotry and hatred for those ‘not like us’)! So much for Christian values. I’m not religious myself but why can I see the right thing to do (as I see it anyway) when those that claim to follow Christ’s example want to persecute these poor people more??!!
BTW Vicki, best wishes for your husband with whatever the pre admission tests were for 🙂
British sorry English justice – hmm about what you would expect.
Is that bastard B.liar still banking millions?
But more to the point why is Uncle Samuel arming al qaeda types to kill moderate muslims? And Why is Israel helping them. Or to put it one step further why are the Royal families in the Oil Shiekdoms in the Gulf fighting each other to kill Syrians and Iraqi’s – yes Qataris (ie muslim brotherhood) competing with Saudi’s who arm ISIS (ie the rebadged al qaeda) while Samuel leak them BOTH weapons and still blaming Al Assad for chemical attacks which everyone knows were perpetrated by al Assad’s enemies? complicated – no not really – but thats no excuse why the ABC (always) gets it so wrong.
Garth, thankyou for your response to my post and the good wishes for my husband.
Left Wing Bias on our ABC..
The Political Compass attempts to put numbers to political slant.
It has:
LNP = 8.5
ALP = 5.5
GRN= -3.5
So with zero as the centre the Greens are Centre Left, The ALP almost Right Wing and the LNP Hard Right.
Now, take a not so fictitious Q and A audience…
If the numbers are:
LNP – 50%
ALP – 35%
GRN – 15%
You would still have the LNP screaming bias.
That aside, if one averages out those audience percentages with the Political Compass assessment, a Q and A audience averages to 5.6…so more right wing then an almost right wing labor party.
Here in lies the rub.
In attempting to sit between labor and liberal, the ABC is biased to the right by a fair distance.
Extrapolating that to Price and The Project, Price is hard right, possibly extremist right. The Project would do well to remove him from their payroll. He has nothing useful to add other then shrillness and hate…in my opinion.
Great story and the rabbott will do me a favor by sinking the ABC 24 and breakfast shows whose search for news and the resulting bias and relevance is on par with 7 and 9.
ABC bias is most noticeable in darwin. Where southern prejudices and ignorance about the territory are recycled, whenever a newie from south arrives.
There seems to be no protocols in place to explain about ‘Nhulunbuy and gove; or that traditional Aborigines speak english or that local issues have two sides not just the one espoused by the wasc/p groups they first meet.
Whenever Steve Prick appears on The Project I immediately switch off, just as I did when Dolt was on.
let me say what the ABC won’t – ISIS = Saudi Arabia + USA
The US is arming ISIS in Syria and is now considering military action against them in neighboring Iraq.
You got the first bit right.
These crafty Muslim terrorist women.. why, we learned way back in the Howard era that they carry bombs under their burqas.
I suspect Kay Lee is correct in her assumptions re arming both sides, re Syriana.
The ABC has pockets of good current affairs where they are still battling, despite the funding cuts and censorship to present real world news and comment, but channel 2 has dumbed down to below commercial level.
I’ve read stuff about Brooks/Coulson indicating the Jury tried hard, but seriously?
…’I suspect Kay Lee is correct in her assumptions re arming both sides, re Syriana. ‘….
I’m not sure she was saying that paul walter.
ISAS, FSA, Al Qaeda – Al-Nusra the names don’t really matter – they change from month to month anyway and under any normal circumstance an intelligent media would rail against these sorts of regrouped and rebadged organisations but it seems Brand Obama (who continues Bush’s wars) and is being used to paper over any sense of decency so that the reality of another war for empire – and all its gory details can be washed from the pages of contemporary journalism. It matters – the things that are being done overseas by ‘our’ lot. When our media can’t tell the truth about world events it demonstrates what a hollow lot they are and what a criminal enterprise they run. When nearly every report we get shoved down our ears and eyes is so clearly a lie – to any interested observer – from our national broadcasters you gotta wonder just where our country is headed. The news is rigged but so it seems is just about every other organisation in the country.
But your point about arming both sides could only be true if it was say backing al-Assad and the opposition – which it isn’t. And lets not confuse the matter by suggesting there are good and bad rebels and that Uncle Samuel can differentiate between the two. It’s bullshit.
Mark, re the ABC, I think the news channel 24 is an absolute debacle when it comes to presenting actual news, as with the pitiful effort at 7.00 on Two. I don’t mind the Drum and couple of other marginal things and at least am finally coming to terms with the idiot-level gimmickry on all ABC channels..
On channel 2 there is still 4 Corners, MW and Landline, while QA continues to fail because of Jones’ persistent refusal to rein in panelists there to disrupt at the expense of debate. 7.30 can be good or bad depending on the given day and Latteline continues to deteriorate, while you get an occasional snippet on Business Latteline, with the some times irritating Ticky Fullerton.
Now that the sly Malcolm Turncoat has put the boot in further, I suppose the decline will just accelerate.
The news that there will be more rather than less ads on SBS is demoralising, frankly.